Her Confession
by Mystic83
Summary: Gossip from a talk radio broadcast gives Starbuck an opportunity to confess something really important to Apollo.


Crashdown burst into the room while they were mid-hand in the pyramid game. It was obvious that he was practically bursting from the seams with something. It seems like the Galactica had turned into a large rumor mill in the past few days, and there must be something new making its rounds.

"Found out something juicy?" Starbuck asked while still concentrating.

"Yeah. Haven't you guys been listening to talk radio?"

"Talk radio isn't allowed in this room," Gaeta said with a laugh. When he got a weird look from Crashdown in response, he held up his hands. "Starbuck's rules."

"It's annoying," she said as if that explained everything.

"Whatever. If you had been allowed to listen to it and you had chosen to do so, you would have heard Maurice Bombeau taking control of the broadcast to project his latest theory about fifteen minutes ago."

"Crazy Maurice the deckhand that everyone ignores?" Apollo asked, cocking an eyebrow in surprise.

"That would be the one. Seems he's been analyzing us pilots while we've been doing our job, saving the world and all that." Crashdown took a seat next to Boomer. "So, Lieutenant, you curious as to what he had to say?"

She rolled her eyes. "Not in the least. And get the frak away from me. You just came off a six hour shift, and I can tell you have yet to make it to the head." She fanned the air in front of her face and scrunched up her nose to hammer the point home.

Crashdown sniffed himself and shrugged. "Haven't had any complaints."

"What the frak do you think I was just doing?"

"I want to know," Apollo interrupted, doing his best to be the CAG and stop these two before they really started fighting. He knew he would end up a glorified babysitter at some point when he was told the position was his to fill, but he never thought that it would happen this soon and while they still had no world to call their own. "Tell me what went on over the radio."

"Well, it seems that Maurice has been doing some heavy research into why we're trying so hard to save our little ragtag group of survivors. I don't think the Chief is working him hard enough."

"Are you talking about the Someone To Die For theory of crazy Mo's?" Dee asked as she entered the room. It looked like she had just gotten out of the shower and was still as tense as ever. Apollo had noticed that she carried a lot of the Fleet's stress on her shoulders. He wished there was something he could do for her, but he had enough on his hands, dealing with the pilots of the Fleet alone. "You all heard it to?"

"Only Crash," Boomer answered. "He was about to enlighten us."

Crashdown gave her a patronizing smile before turning to look up at Dee. "Bunch of bullshit, right?"

"So full of crap," she said, laughing. "I don't know how that crazy man comes up with them."

"Explain. Now." Starbuck demanded, tagging a drag of her cigar and leaning back in her seat. They had her half-attention, which was pretty much all one could hope for in the circumstances.

"Maurice thinks that the reason we risk our lives is we all have someone to die for. That there's this one person left in the Fleet that we care so much about we're willing to gamble with the whole Fleet's existence. It was all full of emotion and girly crap."

Dee rolled her eyes at Crashdown and took over explaining. "He said you need that one person to be able to do the actions that are so critical to our survival. There has to be someone who you make the hard choices for and take the big falls for. In the context of the military, it's the idea of being able to know that one person is going to live through the day even if you do not. It's the key to maintaining sanity. Maurice said it's that kind of bond that will make us successful in our quest."

"My life is not validated by the fact that Gaeta is alive," Crashdown pointed out.

Gaeta's face filled with disgust, making everyone around him laugh. "I swear to the Lords of Kobol, I better not be your one person."

"You're a heartless bastard, Crashdown, so of course you wouldn't have that person you'd be willing to sacrifice yourself for,' Starbuck pointed out. "It's a sign of the end of the world when you actually show some form of emotion that isn't cockiness or anger."

He shrugged off her subtle insults. "I just don't buy the fact that in our current position of fleeing for our lives on a daily basis, we would be willing to lay down our lives to insure the safety of one measly person."

Apollo's eyes locked with Starbuck's for a brief moment across the tables. He knew they were both thinking about the dogfight in which she had bumped her Viper to lock on to his in order to bring him back to the Galactica safely. He had yelled at her to leave him behind, but she didn't listen and even went against orders in order to bring him back. Smirking, he gave her a small wink before turning to look at those sitting around him. "I believe it."

"You do, sir?" Crashdown had a small look of horror on his face. He really thought the Captain would be his biggest supporter in this argument. The man was about as by the book as you could get. The book did not allow for the placing of such a large amount of purpose on one's personal feelings.

Apollo shrugged. "Sure. I have one person I'd be willing to risk it all to make sure she got through the day."

"She?" Dee said in a teasing tone. "Does the CAG have a girlfriend he's been hiding?"

Starbuck tuned out all the noise around her as she focused on Apollo's face. He looked calm even though she knew he must be feeling the stress of his situation. His little insinuation threw her off slightly, which only made her concentrate on his words more. She knew he was talking about her. Otherwise what was that look they had shared a few seconds earlier?

There was a subtle tingle on the back of her neck as she realized this might be the moment she had been waiting for. She really had something she needed to tell him, and it seemed like his defenses were down right now. It had been nagging at her for way too long, and now seemed as good a time as any. She had really hoped there wouldn't be an audience when she finally admitted the truth to him. It might embarrass him, but she really couldn't get around that little detail right now.

It was that damn wink which set her off. Since she could remember, it had always made her want to throw caution to the wind. It was the fuel for almost every single spontaneous moment she had had in her life. All the agonizing was usually worth it when she saw his reaction to what she was doing. This time would definitely surpass all others.

Her heart was beating rapidly as she shifted in her seat, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. How would he take the news? Would he get angry at her and leave the room calling her a few choice words? Would he be in awe of what she had to tell him? Would he be embarrassed by her words?

This should be good. Correction. This should be priceless.

"Lee," she said as nonchalantly as she could manage. "I have something you need to know."

The others in the room braced themselves. Starbuck only used that tone when she was about to say something that was going to stir things up. She was an instigator to the core. Everyone knew it was usually best just to step back and be a bystander instead of trying to stop her.

Apollo pulled himself away from the conversation he was having with the others about whether or not Crazy Maurice's theory had any validity to it.

Damn him. He still had that cocky look on his face from earlier when he had winked at her. That meant she was going to have to make it sting just a little more. She gestured with her finger for him to come closer as she leaned in towards the middle of the table..

Apollo bent over the table slowly so his mouth was right in front of hers. "Are you ready to admit that you'd die for me, Kara?" he whispered.

Dee's eyes went wide, and she could see the others around her shift uncomfortably in their seats.

Kara gave him a wicked smile. "Jury's still out on that one, Lee."

She figured she could stretch this out a little longer, but that was almost too cruel even by her standards. She took a deep breath. This was going to change the whole damn game she and Lee had been playing.

Her cards hit the table with a resounding smack, and she threw his wink right back at him. "Full colors!"


End file.
